Do You Know Who I Am? I was thinking this morning, that phrase has been very dominate although with many different definitions throughout my life.

When I was younger and growing up, EVERYONE knew my family. The phrase ran in the reverse — anything and everything I did, someone KNEW my family, specifically MY DAD. Not always in the positive! If I tried to skip school, sneak into somewhere I wasn’t old enough or cruise down the “wrong” street, people knew me and told my family/DAD.

As I got older and left my hometown, I was incognito and no one really knew me. Until I started working in my real profession as an attorney. I was take no prisioners, no deal, let’s go to trial, work my tailbone off. One time an opposing counsel said to my friend, “She is a real hard @$$.” My friend responded, “She would love to hear that because that means she is doing her job!” Do You Know Who She/I Is/Am became a great introduction by associates once I tried numerous cases and was published in local legal journals.

Then came a huge car accident and one of those “she may not live through the night” moments. Luckily, I was treated by the best trauma unit in Southern California at the time — UCSD Trauma. The director of the whole unit, happened to be on call the night I came in. For some weird reason, he and I hit it off. I think it was my comment, during a brief minute of consciousness, asking for breast augmentation when they were litterally doing emergency surgery to find out why I kept flat lining. Dr. Hoyt decided I was “HIS PATIENT”. He would handle 100% of his cases. And his interns were assigned to me almost 24/7. Then I became, Do You Know Who She Is? She is Dr. Hoyt’s patient!!

Another new phase, MOMMYHOOD. I had no idea what I was doing. I was reading, going to seminars, interrogating my mom and friends’ with kids relentlessly. DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM was a lost new mommy. Soon, once I got my bearings and learned how to feed, bathe and care for a child, it became “I’m Rockit Girl’s mommy” or “RockIt Boy’s mommy”. Then I found I liked this role, so I rolled this into time with my kids and becoming a group fitness trainer for other mommies, knowing how lost I was when I was hired for this MOMMYHOOD job. DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? Became, Crazy Lady with the cookies to keep kids in their strollers, or just CRAZY. Then it turned into RockIt Mom. No more cookies, but still lots of CRAZY. Remaining in the MOMMYHOOD position, but now with tenure, I became the PTO/CRAZY LADY. Do You Know Who She Is, turned into the introduction by young students to their parents or almost all new friends I made at this new tenured position. At times, I would wish I could go back to RockIt Girl’s Mommy or RockIt Boy’s Mommy. But it was so much fun to help the school, students and administration. Do You Know Who I Am became the go-to for any and every questions posed on our campus. Now, back to this morning. As I looked at my reflection, which was exhausted with eyes at 1/2 mast, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM became very poignant. Who Am I? I love my Mommyhood position and would never retire or terminate my role. I loved all the positions that got me to this job.

Now well into my 4th decade, the question is posed again, most pointedly to my reflection, Do YOU Know Who I Am?